Almanac Soccer: English Premier League – Matchweek 26 Highlights

 

Premier League Matchweek 26 Highlights 24/25

 

Matchweek 26 saw an unusual amount of upsets as well as a total of 33 goals scored across 10 fixtures. The three most entertaining games of the week included Manchester United’s trip across to Merseyside to play Daivid Moyes’ Everton, Arsenal’s match at home to West Ham in what was a must win for the Gunners and Nottingham Forest’s travel up to Tyneside in what was a battle between two overachieving teams contesting for Europe this season.

 

Everton v Manchester United

 

The first game of Matchweek 26 played on Saturday afternoon saw David Moyes’ Everton host Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United at Goodison Park. Everton made a very quick start to the tie, which the fans at Goodison have become quite accustomed to. Jack Harrison whipped in Everton’s latest corner in the 19th minute where the ball was not properly cleared by the United defenders. Abdoulaye Doucoure then made a soaring header to clear the ball over the United backline and into the path of striker Beto. The Portuguese attacker smashed the ball into the Goodison turf and watched as it bounced over Andre Onana and into the roof of the net. Beto has now scored in 4 games in a row as he is revitalising his Toffees career under Moyes. Everton then doubled their advantage in the 32nd minute after Jesper Lindstrom played a brilliant through ball down the right wing for Beto to chase. Beto squared the ball to Harrison where the Leeds loanee fired a shot at Onana. Onana was weak in saving the shot, going to ground as the ball was deflected up into the air. After his big header was the difference in the first Everton goal, Doucoure then leapt up again, this time heading the ball into the empty United net to take the claims himself. The first half score finished 2-0 with it now very hard to see United spark a comeback given Everton’s recent form.

 

The Toffees were yet again the better side in the 2nd period although United scraped their way back into the game in the 72nd minute thanks to a captain’s intervention by Bruno Fernandes. The travelling side won a free kick from 25 yards out where the Portuguese international brilliantly fired the ball into the bottom right corner, an unsavable effort for Toffee’s keeper Jordan Pickford. From out of nowhere, the Red Devils then equalised the game in the 80th minute, with all of Everton’s hard work canceled out. Fernandes was again involved, whipping a free kick into the Everton area which was cleared out of the 18 yard box by Beto. Uruguayan midfielder, Manuel Ugarte, chested the ball just outside the penalty area before thrashing the ball into the top left corner, making for a brilliant equalising goal. Eight minutes later Pickford was then forced to make a save of the season contender, acrobatically leaping backwards to tip a wonder strike from Fernandes over the bar. The hosts were then robbed of a penalty with only seconds to play when Ashley Young’s shirt was tugged as he attempted to smash in the rebound off Idrissa Gueye’s effort. Referee Andy Madley initially gave the penalty but for reasons unknown he made the decision to overturn it after VAR’s intervention. The full time score finished 2-2 with United rallying to comeback from 2 goals down. Everton continue their brilliant unbeaten run under Moyes as they sit 14th while United sit 1 place below in 15th, 1 point less with 30.

 

 

Arsenal v West Ham United

 

The following game of the Matchweek saw Mikel Arteta’s 2nd placed Arsenal host Graham Potter’s 16th placed West Ham United at the Emirates Stadium. Despite their difference in positions on the table, the game got off to an even start, with Arsenal dominating possession but West Ham missing the bigger chances. Moments after he’d agonisingly dragged a shot wide of the bottom corner, West Ham skipper Jarrod Bowen soon popped up with a huge goal just before the interval. Bowen received the ball just outside the penalty area where he played it wide to West Ham’s other star player in the current season, Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Wan-Bissaka made a workhorse run down the right wing while Bowen slowly made his way into the Arsenal penalty area. Wan-Bissaka beat his man Riccardo Calafiori before chipping the ball into the penalty area, watching as the unmarked Bowen dove in to head the ball past Arsenal keeper David Raya. After Liverpool had dropped points during the week to Aston Villa, this was a must win game for Arsenal if they were to keep their title ambitions alive but it was West Ham who went into the interval with a 0-1 lead.

 

Despite having a 0-1 lead to protect, West Ham came out firing for the 2nd half and came millimetres away from doubling their lead in the 55th minute when Aaron Cresswell’s low and hard ball across the penalty area was just a toe’s length ahead of Bowen who had lunged in for a potential brace. With 20 minutes left to play in the tie, West Ham found themselves a golden opportunity to seal all 3 points after Mohammed Kudus dispossessed Myles Lewis-Skelly on the halfway line with no Arsenal defenders back to stop him. Lewis-Skelly then brought Kudus down, resulting in an obvious red card (although referee Craig Pawson required a VAR intervention to overturn his initial decision. Now down to 10 men, it was always going to be very difficult for Arsenal to pick the lock of a very resilient West Ham defence as the Hammers saw out their best result of the season, a 0-1 away win at the Emirates. It is now the 3rd season running that West Ham have contributed to derailing the Arsenal title charge (drawing with them in early 2023 at home 2-2 and beating them in December 2023 0-2 away). It is also a really positive result for Potter who will hope his side can continue their form with just 12 games left to play in the season. It now feels all over for Arsenal, who are 7 points behind leaders Liverpool who are yet to play this matchweek. This would also be the 2nd time this decade that they have come 2nd in 3 successive seasons.

 

 

Newcastle United v Nottingham Forest

 

The first game of Matchweek 26 played on Sunday afternoon saw Eddie Howe’s Newcastle United host Nuno Espirito’s Nottingham Forest at St. James’ Park. Newcastle made the worst possible start to the game when Jacob Murphy gave the ball away carelessly to Callum Hudson-Odoi just outside the area. With Newcastle keeper Nick Pope not expecting a shot, Hudson-Odoi had an unguarded goal to shoot at where he drilled the ball into the bottom left corner. Newcastle soon conjured up a timely response, with two of their young English talents combining to equalise for the Magpies. Lewis Hall played a long ball across the turf to the 18-year-old Lewis Miley. Miley took one touch before drilling the ball into the bottom right corner on the spin, making for a brilliant Newcastle leveller. Just 2 minutes later, Newcastle completely flipped the script after Murphy made amends for his earlier error. Hall was yet again heavily involved, dribbling down the left wing before he attempted to chip the ball into the danger area for Alexander Isak. Hall’s cross caught a huge deflection which led the ball right into the path of Murphy who bundled the ball over the line to give the Magpies the lead. Eight minutes later, Newcastle found a 2-goal cushion when Isak netted his 18th goal of the season. Yet again, Hall proved his worth, attempting to whip in a cross only for the ball to clatter into the arm of Forest full back Ola Aina resulting in a clear Newcastle penalty. Isak stepped up to take it and audaciously chipped the ball over Forest keeper Matz Sels who had already committed to diving to his left. One minute later, the hosts all but wrapped up the 3 points when Isak scored his 50th goal in the Premier League, a landmark for the Swedish striker. Joe Wilock slipped the ball into the left side of the penalty area where Isak immediately got a shot off. His effort flicked up off the outstretched legs of centre half Murrilo and over Sels in goals. The score at half time stood at 4-1 with Forest putting in another poor performance away from home.

 

The away side gave Newcastle something to think about in the 63rd minute when centre back Nikola Milenkovic scored to make it 4-2. Nicholas Dominguez whipped the ball in from the right corner flag where his pacey delivery flew over the crowd of bodies in the box and over to Chris Wood at the back post. Wood poked the ball back into the 6-yard area where Milenkovic showed great improvisation when flicking the ball past Pope using his heel. After an actionless next 25 minutes, Forest left Newcastle fans with their hearts in their throats after Ryan Yates scored in the 90th minute to make it 4-3. It was yet again off a corner, with Anthony Elanga’s cross finding Morgan Gibbs-White who cracked a shot. Gibbs-White’s effort was blocked by Fabian Schar but the rebound was smashed home by Yates. Despite Forest’s best efforts to fight back, the full time score finished 4-3 with Newcastle only just holding on. Newcastle picked up a huge 3 points in their aspirations for top 4 as they moved into 5th on the table, level on points with 4th placed Manchester City. Forest loose consecutive games for the first time this season as they remain 3rd on 47 points.

 

Written by Ollie Wade – Read the rest of Matchweek 26 at Premier League Matchweek 26 – Kickoff chronicles

 

 

 

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